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| Patmer, In Memoriam: Wells. W. Cooke. 125 
never were man and opportunity better mated,! and he entered 
upon his work with characteristic energy and enthusiasm. His 
first position, was that of Expert Assistant, but on July 1, 1902, he 
was made Assistant Biologist, on July 1, 1908, Bird Migration 
Expert, and on November 1, 1912, Assistant Biologist, with bird 
migration and distribution as his chief work in all these positions. 
He undertook an exhaustive examination of the literature of migra- 
tion and began a bibliography of the subject, but finding it difficult 
to differentiate between migration and distribution he devoted 
his attention to both subjects. He introduced the plan of entering 
each migration record on a separate card and wrote many thou- 
sands of cards with hisown hand. This monotonous routine labor 
brought on writer’s cramp and although he trained himself to write 
with his left hand this hand also suffered in the same way and in 
his later years he could not write more than ten or fifteen minutes 
without changing from one hand to the other. In 1915 he had the 
satisfaction of reporting that the number of cards in the migration 
index had passed the million mark. He naturally took a deep 
interest in the enactment of the Federal Migratory Bird Law, 
attended the hearing on the bill before the House Committee on 
Agriculture, and later as a member of the Biological Survey Com- 
mittee took an active part in framing the regulations for carrying 
the law into effect. Outside the office his activities were manifested 
in various directions. He was an active member of the Biological 
Society of Washington, and served as treasurer from January 1, 
1914, until his death. He also took a very active part in the work 
of the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia, serving on its 
executive committee, as one of the teachers in the bird classes, and 
as the principal leader on the spring outings organized to study 
birds in the field. He aroused much enthusiasm in the members 
in making migration notes, and collected material for two compre- 
hensive papers on the migration of local birds. 
Of Cooke the man it is unnecessary to speak except for the bene- 
fit of those who never had the pleasure of meeting him. In stature 
he was somewhat below medium height and rather slight. Al- 
though somewhat frail in appearance, at least in his later years, 
1 Bird-Lore, X VIII, p. 189, June, 1916. 
